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Company demonstrates ant robots that can work together

Mar

28

2015

The German company Festo every year brings a special type of robot as part of its Bionic Learning Network. This year the company with ants operate as cooperative swarm and a butterfly robot that weighs only 32 grams.

The BionicANTs are not only built with a single ant as an example, but as a so-called swarm intelligence . Swarm Intelligence is a form of artificial intelligence that is based on collective behavior of decentralized, self-organizing systems. The bionic ants work according to Festo by adopting their own decisions, but those decisions are always subordinate to the common goal.

Ants are each 13.5 inches long with components on the outside. The ants are for the most part 3d-printed, in this case with laser sintered. A radio module on the abdomen without prejudice to the mechanical animals communicate with each other. In order to propel themselves have the robots 20 piezoceramic actuators. In the head there is a 3D stereo camera and an optical infra-red sensor on the bottom record the distance traveled, as with a computer mouse. Two Li-po batteries give it to 40 minutes cordless playtime before they need recharging again by using their antennae connection with a special dock.